Strengthening Workplace Well-Being in Research Animal Facilities

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increased recognition of the potential cost of caring on the mental well-being of research animal facility personnel. While this issue is considered a normal consequence of caring for others, these stressors must be acknowledged and managed to ensure that the workplace culture remains positive and that employees are engaged. Factors that can contribute to these feelings in those working with animals in research include compassion and moral stress, issues related to staffing and scheduling of work, insufficient communication in the workplace, and public ambivalence toward the use of animals in science. The first step in developing a program is to survey facility personnel about their concerns, either formally (e.g., using a needs analysis) or informally. Two examples are provided to demonstrate different institutional approaches to assessing personnel needs and developing an internal compassion-resiliency program. The best programs are based on the needs and wants of personnel and these can be cost effective and geared at a grassroots level. Social support in the workplace, for example, through peer counseling, can be a highly effective means of helping personnel to build compassion-resiliency. Addressing mental well-being of research animal facility personnel is an important component of ensuring a positive culture of care in the workplace.

Professional Quality of Life in Research Involving Laboratory Animals

“…Researchers usually interact with animals only when a specific procedure is being conducted [ 10 ]. Working with laboratory animals can bring satisfaction but it can also result in workplace stress [ 11 ]. Thus, on one hand, people can feel compassion satisfaction (CS), known as the pleasure that can be derived from an individual’s ability to perform work well, contribute to the work setting and the greater good of society [ 12 ].…”

“…Moral stress refers to having to act in a way that is different from what someone feels is ethically correct. In research settings, animal euthanasia is an area of moral stress [ 11 ], and it is thought to be one of the causes of workplace stress [ 15 ]. Euthanasia can also induce emotional dissonance; a conflict between experienced emotions and expressed emotions.…”

“…In order to minimize the potential cost of caring on the mental wellbeing of personal working with laboratory animals, different approaches have been described to ensure a positive culture of care in research animal facilities [ 8 , 11 ]. However, to our knowledge, only two studies conducted in North America have analyzed animal-facility personnel mental wellbeing [ 13 , 19 ].…”

Caring for the Animal Caregiver—Occupational Health, Human-Animal Bond and Compassion Fatigue

“…The full impact and extent of CF in the lab animal community is difficult to assess and it is expected that personnel may be impacted at different times throughout their career. There is limited data from surveys that recognize CF is a problem ( 4 , 5 ). To think that people can work in laboratory animal science and not be impacted emotionally by the work at some level is unrealistic.…”

“…Informing leadership up front of the goals and objectives of the process are important before beginning the first step. Current increases in literature are helpful in demonstrating that this is a recognized hazard in our industry ( 4 , 5 ). A proposal that includes a measure of outcomes is important if possible but is currently lacking.…”